News media heeding call to limit naming perpetrators in mass shootings

At times taking their lead from police, journalists are naming shooters less often and less prominently. Brad Vest/Getty Images

The day after a man opened fire at a Collierville, Tennessee, grocery store, killing one person and wounding 13 others before turning the gun on himself, local police conducted an impromptu news conference to identify the perpetrator.

But instead of saying the suspect’s name out loud on that sunny morning in September 2021, Collierville Police Lt. David Townsend held up a yellow piece of paper with the name “Uk Thang” and the birth date “10-17-91.”